#Ekrom Uten nådigst formildelse
Band: Ekrom
Title: Uten nådigst formildelse
Label: Edged Circle Productions
Release date: 06 June 2023
Country: Norway
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording
The way this album starts… zero contemplations, no time for any delicate intro, just an all-in-your-face relentless attack since the 1st second. A rough scream along with non-stop beating of drums, an icy cold guitar riff… Wow, that’s a start! “Bell Witch” throws you directly in a dark and bleak scenario where no light enters. This song has a lot of elements to enjoy, whether you are Black Metal worshiper or simply you love being dragged to the darkest side of this genre sometimes. I’m more of the second case, feels so great (and emotionally healing) being totally immersed in somber, desolate and suffocating atmospheres like Ekrom creates!
And this is just the beginning… As the album goes on, you can notice two things: the great musicianship of the two members in Ekrom (Thomas Ødegaard at drums, and Kharon at vocals, guitars, bass and keyboards…); AND the worship of classic Black Metal by these two men. They really know the old stuff and love to play like this, and the result is great.
This album doesn’t run at high speed, is mostly driven by mid-tempo pace and sometimes it can even go more slow. “The Black Hearted Ragana” is an outstanding track, drums play quite restrained and with a heartfelt sense of compromise. Guitars are enchanting you all the song through, sometimes they become hypnotic, always in an icy cold tone, there’s even a short acoustic passage… I love the alluring sense of absolute despair it brings to me. Vocals are nailing it in terms of raspiness… Yes, I know, I tend to talk more about “feelings” rather than “technical aspects” about the music I review, but that’s my way to do it. Can’t understand Metal if it’s not associated with feelings. If a song/album doesn’t “speak” to me, I move towards another one.
And “Uten nådigst formildelse” has proven to be “one of these stirring albums” for me. With atmospheres that enthralls me, due to the repetitive riffs and the (yes!) use of some keyboards here and there that create a special and spectral layer around. Uohhh chills down my spine while I listen to “Abyss of Eternity” and I listen to that synth that takes a bit of control, recreating kind of a gloomy graveyard scene. Vocals in this song are a bit more insane than in other songs, that’s another big achievement.
“Misanthropy Void” is a song starting ethereally, very softly, but after a while you hear all the heavy instrumentation crawling over you like a wave in the brave sea. And here you have it again: in front of you, a vast and darkened landscape, a suffocating atmosphere. I love it.
And near the end (but there’s still one more song to finish the album) we are slapped by “My End”, a song that can touch so many nerves… Again, a soft start and you can already be prepared for what comes next. In this song, synths are very present and are used to create foggy atmospheres. Riffs never stop freezing you, hateful vocals are spit with fury; drums have a great repertoire, “abusing” of toms and cymbals (nothing new in this album, eh). Well, try to focus only listening to percussion and you’ll see what a fantastic track this is!
What an outstanding Black Metal album for this year! 9/10 Sílvia
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9/10 Epic Storm
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